Rhodes wildfires: Thousands of Britons flown back to UK – as 10% of land on Greek island burned
Thousands of Britons have been flown back from Rhodes – with new estimates suggesting 10% of land on the Greek island has been burned by wildfires.
Additional flights bringing stranded holidaymakers landed in the UK overnight, and more are expected to arrive throughout the day.
As many as 10,000 Britons were estimated to be on the island, a favourite tourist destination, the Foreign Office said.
Thousands of people have been evacuated. Pic: Hellenic Red Cross
New evacuation warning issued
Holidaymakers who have returned have told of “traumatic” evacuations as their hotels were surrounded by flames.
Scores of people were forced to spend the weekend sleeping rough on beaches, sun loungers, or on the streets as wildfires raged.
Temperatures have risen above 40C (104F) in parts of Greece, and on Rhodes – a blaze is continuing to move inland, touching mountainous forest areas including part of a nature reserve.
A new evacuation warning has been issued for the inland village of Vati, and people there are being urged to move to Lindos.
Desperate residents with wet towels around their necks have been using shovels to beat back the flames approaching their homes – with firefighting planes and helicopters resuming water drops at first light.
Sea evacuations have also been taking place at a beach in Corfu to transport individuals fleeing wildfires there.
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Corfu: Thousands moved to safety
‘We are at war’
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said “we are at war” and completely focused on tackling the wildfires.
He is holding crisis talks with his ministers on Tuesday and has warned difficult days lie ahead, with conditions possibly set to improve on Thursday.
Large swathes of the country are at the highest risk level for fires tomorrow.
Mr Mitsotakis warned: “I will state the obvious – in the fact of what the entire planet is facing, especially the Mediterranean which is a climate hotspot, there is no magical defence mechanism. If there was, we would have implemented it.”
Today, scientists have published an assessment that states human-induced climate change has played an “absolutely overwhelming” role in the extreme heatwaves seen worldwide in recent weeks.
Prosecutors on Rhodes are now investigating what has caused the fires, and examining the preparedness and response of the authorities.
The EU has sent 500 firefighters, 100 vehicles and seven planes from 10 member states – with Turkey, Israel and Egypt also offering support.
Vassilis Kikilias, Greece’s climate minister, said crews are “fighting non-stop on dozens of forest fire fronts” – with 12 consecutive days of heat and strong winds.
“The Greek Fire Service has battled more than 500 fires – more than 50 a day,” he added.
Read more:
Scientists predict how often heatwaves will now occur
Holiday booked to Greece? Your rights amid Rhodes and Corfu fires
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Gove ‘heading to Greece next week’
It comes as Housing Secretary Michael Gove told Sky News on Tuesday that he plans to holiday on the Greek island of Evia in just over a week, and insisted the region is safe for holidaymakers despite fire concerns.
Some 77 firefighters were battling scattered outbreaks in Evia on Monday.
EasyJet repatriated 421 people back to the UK on two flights from Rhodes on Monday, with a third on Tuesday. This is in addition to nine scheduled flights to the island that are also taking place.
Jet2 had four repatriation flights scheduled for Monday evening – to Manchester, Bradford and Birmingham – with a total of 787 seats.
Fifty scheduled flights are going to take holidaymakers back from Rhodes this week, but each aircraft will leave the UK empty after all outbound flights and holidays were cancelled until Sunday.
Labour has suggested that the government should “rethink” the advice it is giving for Britons who have booked a trip to Rhodes.
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Airport closes in Sicily as wildfire approaches
Fires force airport to close in Italy
In Italy, a wildfire forced the closure of Palermo airport in Sicily for a few hours, as firefighters worked to put out a major blaze in a nearby area that also disrupted local road and rail traffic.
The incident added to Sicily’s travel misery at the peak of the tourist season. On some parts of the island, temperatures rose to 47.6C (117.7F) on Monday – close to a record European high of 48.8C (120F) recorded there two years ago.
Flames burn in vegetation in Sicily. Pic: AP
Italy has put 16 cities on red alert because of the high temperatures.
Meanwhile, an overnight storm tore off roofs and uprooted trees in Milan, blocking roads and disrupting transport.
A Delta flight that took off from Milan and was bound for New York was forced to land in Rome after its nose and fuselage were severely damaged by a hailstorm.
And two women were killed on Monday and Tuesday in the northern Monza and Brescia provinces after being crushed by falling trees.
Vehicles were burnt out after wildfires in Algiers. Pic: AP
Deadly blazes in Algeria
In Algeria, wildfires have killed 34 people – including 10 soldiers trying to get the flames under control in the face of high winds and searing summer temperatures.
At least 1,500 people have been evacuated there.
The crash involving a cargo ship and oil tanker off the East Yorkshire coast is bad news for the sea, fish and air in the area. What we don’t know yet is quite how bad it will be.
That depends on a few things – but the speed of the collision, clouds of filthy black smoke from the fires and the leaked fuel are certainly worrying.
Firstly, it matters what was on board those two massive vessels.
Follow live: Jet fuel spilling into sea after tanker collision
Analytics firm Vortexa estimates the 183m-long tanker was carrying about 130,000 barrels of jet fuel (kerosene), which is now leaking into the sea.
Jet fuel is not as sticky or viscous as heavier types of oil, thankfully, so it’s less likely to clog the feathers and fur of birds and seals. It can also be broken down by natural bacteria.
But it can still poison fish and kill animals and plants on the shoreline if it makes its way into the soil there.
The Marine Conservation Society has pointed out the site in the Humber estuary is close to some protected areas and is important for seabirds and harbour porpoises.
And both ships will have been powered by a dirtier, heavier kind of oil – likely marine gas oil or heavy fuel oil, though we don’t know the details yet.
Heavy fuel oil is nasty stuff.
Pic: Bartek Smialek/PA
Cheap, thick and tar-like, it can smother animals and is very dangerous if they consume it, and is extremely difficult to clean up. Let’s hope this isn’t creeping around the North Sea already.
We don’t know how much of either the jet fuel or the oil powering the ships has leaked, or how much will be burned off in the violent fires – which themselves are ploughing black smoke and filthy air pollution into the surrounding atmosphere.
And we don’t know for sure what was on the Solong cargo ship and if, or what, will go into the sea.
Cargo ship ‘had sodium cyanide on board’
It was carrying 15 containers of sodium cyanide among other cargo, according to a report from maritime data provider Lloyd’s List Intelligence.
The container vessel was also transporting an unknown quantity of alcohol, said the casualty report – an assessment of incidents at sea – citing a message from the local coastguard.
Plastic takes hundreds of years to break down, and potentially can choke or trap animals.
Many of us have seen that uncomfortable viral video of a turtle having a straw yanked out of its nose. Previous accidents on cargo ships have seen plastic Lego pieces wash up in Cornwall 25 years later.
Read more:
How UK North Sea platforms dump gas
Secondly, the impact depends on the sea and weather conditions around it.
Things like the wind and currents affect how an oil spill spreads in the sea. Scientists can draw up computer models to simulate how the oil could behave.
Thirdly, it matters how quickly this is all tackled and then cleaned up, if necessary, and if it can be.
Usually the slower the response, the worse the impact.
The coastguard has said the incident “remains ongoing” and it has started assessing the “likely counter pollution response” that will be required.
Such a response might need the help of numerous public bodies: the government environment department, the transport department, the Environment Agency and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.
So for now the best we can hope for – aside from the welfare of the people involved – is that not all the oil is spilled or burnt, that conditions are calm and that rescuers and those cleaning up can work swiftly.
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